East Carbon girls win first game; boys still seeking victory

East Carbon's Jennifer Maestas passes the ball during a game with Manila earlier this season.

Playing in the 1A classification may seem like it would be an easy task for some, but the competition is stiff and coming by victories is just as difficult as it is in any of the other classifications in the state.

Add to that generally much longer bus rides to meet on the athletic field or court and another factor kicks in.

With that in mind the East Carbon girls basketball team took the long ride to Wendover last Thursday. They then won their first game of the season as well as their first league game as they beat the Wildcats 35-27.

However the boys team stayed home on Friday night and met a strong St. Josephs team from Ogden and ended up losing 64-34.

Go figure.

The Lady Vikings took the lead from the Wildcats in the first quarter of their game and never looked back although they did come close to getting tied later in the second period. The East Carbon girls put up 10 points while they held Wendover to only six during the period.

The second quarter was a disaster for both teams no matter how one looks at it. Wendover again only scored six points but the Lady Vikings were only able to manage 3 putting the score at halftime 13-12 in favor of the visitors.

East Carbon managed more in the third quarter as they put in seven points and then topped that with 15 in the fourth quarter while keeping the Wildcats entire output to 15 for the entire half.

The leading scorer in East Carbons first victory of the year was Samantha Madrid with 10 points, while Amanda Hepworth and Janet Lowe each put in eight points.

In the boys game on Friday night, East Carbon just couldn't manage to get a good enough scoring handle on the ball to handle the Jayhawks.

In the first quarter the kids from Ogden jumped right on the ball and ended up leading at the period break 11-6.

In the second period the Vikings improved their scoring consistency considerably by putting in 12 points, but they also allowed the Jayhawks to score 15.

While neither of the first two quarters were good for the Vikings the third quarter was a disaster. St. Josephs ran wild scoring 26 points while holding the Vikings down with crushing defense to only 7.

For all intents and purposes that took the life out of the game and both teams kind of struggled to get to the end of regulation time.

East Carbon was led in scoring by Kyle Leonard and Sawyer Leonard with 12 each.

The girls team will play again Tuesday (tonight) at Dugway at 6 p.m.

The boys team is now idle until Jan. 7 when they travel to Trout Creek to play West Desert in their first league game.